Our quest to be green

My quest started several years ago. I started doing simple things like putting all our organic waste in our green bin for city pickup. Our apartment clothes dryer wasn't the best so I started hanging our clothes to dry. It was nothing really out of the ordinary but soon enough, that would change.

I started doing things that people thought were quite different from most. We became quite good at separating our garbage between compost, recyclables and waste. If we had a bunch of people over, I always tried to make it as easy as possible for our guests to dispose of their garbage correctly. Even with that, I would still go through our garbage after they left because there was always something there that shouldn't be. When I went to work, I would often bring my organic waste home since I was fairly certain our school didn't dispose of it properly.

There are some simple things I do now that make a huge difference. I can't remember the last time I purchased wrapping paper. Several years back, I bought gift bags for the holidays. Since then, after each event (Christmas, birthdays, our wedding), I take the time to neatly fold all the tissue paper and gift bags. Now, whatever the event, we have a huge stash to choose from. Our family have been receiving the same bags for years now.

Last week, Efficiency Nova Scotia came to our home and installed a bunch of products that will lower our energy consumption. There was ZERO cost to me! I encourage everyone to find out if there is a local program that offers anything similar.

My next goal is to keep track of the amount of power and water that is used in our home and to hopefully start seeing a drop. What about you?